In electrostatography an image comprising an electrostatic field pattern, usually of non-uniform strength, (also referred to as an electrostatic latent image) is formed on an insulative surface of an electrostatographic element by any of various methods. For example, the electrostatic latent image may be formed electrophotographically (i.e., by imagewise photo-induced dissipation of the strength of portions of an electrostatic field of uniform strength previously formed on a surface of an electrophotographic element comprising a photoconductive layer and an electrically conductive substrate), or it may be formed by dielectric recording (i.e., by direct electrical formation of an electrostatic field pattern on a surface of a dielectric material). Typically, the electrostatic latent image is then developed into a toner image by contacting the latent image with an electrostatographic developer. If desired, the latent image can be transferred to another surface before development.
One well-known type of electrostatographic developer comprises a dry mixture of toner particles and carrier particles. Developers of this type are commonly employed in well-known electrostatographic development processes such as cascade development and magnetic brush development. The particles in such developers are formulated such that the toner particles and carrier particles occupy different positions in the triboelectric continuum, so that when they contact each other during mixing to form the developer, they become triboelectrically charged, with the toner particles acquiring a charge of one polarity and the carrier particles acquiring a charge of the opposite polarity. These opposite charges attract each other such that the toner particles cling to the surfaces of the carrier particles. When the developer is brought into contact with the latent electrostatic image, the electrostatic forces of the latent image (sometimes in combination with an additional applied field) attract the toner particles, and the toner particles are pulled away from the carrier particles and become electrostatically attached imagewise to the latent image-bearing surface. The resultant toner image can then be fixed in place on the surface by application of heat or other known methods (depending upon the nature of the surface and of the toner image) or can be transferred to another surface, to which it then can be similarly fixed.
A number of requirements are implicit in such development schemes. Namely, the electrostatic attraction between the toner and carrier particles must be strong enough to keep the toner particles held to the surfaces of the carrier particles while the developer is being transported to and brought into contact with the latent image, but when that contact occurs, the electrostatic attraction between the toner particles and the latent image must be even stronger, so that the toner particles are thereby pulled away from the carrier particles and deposited on the latent image-bearing surface. If the particles do not charge quickly enough, lose their charge, or do not charge to a high enough value then they may fly off the carrier particles in an uncontrolled fashion causing high levels of toner dust in the apparatus. High levels of toner dust can cause severe damage to the electrophotographic apparatus, resulting in contaminated gears, mirrors, lenses etc.
The toner particles in dry developers often contain material referred to as a charge agent or charge-control agent, which helps to establish and maintain toner charge within an acceptable range. Many types of charge-control agents have been used and are described in the published patent literature. Charge control agents may charge toner particle positively or negatively. Charge control agents yielding toner particles with stable positive charge are more ubiquitous than those yielding toners with stable negative charge. In fact, few additives are known which yield toners with stable negative charge. Some of the known negative charge control agents are highly colored rendering them unacceptable for use in anything but black toners. All of the negative charge agents tend to be complex molecules and as such are expensive and add significant expense to the final toner product.
Additionally, some of the known charge agents will adversely interact chemically and/or physically with other developer or copier components. For example, some will interact with carrier or carrier coating materials (e.g., fluorohydrocarbon polymer coatings such as poly(vinylidene fluoride)) and lead to premature carrier aging and shortened useful developer life. Some will chemically interact with certain toner colorants to cause unacceptable hue shifts in the toner. Some being highly colored will be objectionable for use in typical color toners since such a property will also cause objectionable hue shifts. Some will interact with copier fuser rollers (e.g., rollers coated with fluorohydrocarbon polymers such as poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene)) to cause premature failure of the copier's toner fusing system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,593,049 discloses a toner having a resin and a charge additive that is a complex of a hard acid and a hard base. This additive is used in conjunction with a charge control agent. The present invention provides a toner that contains the charge control agent as part of the toner binder, thus, eliminating a component in the toner composition.
Another issue that affects the charging properties in toners is the extent of charge control agent dispersion. Most often these charge agents are incompatible with the toner resins and are thus hard to disperse. When small toner particles are pulverized, there are many resulting toner particles that are produced with no charge agent. This leads to a distribution of charge in toner particles that affects the developer performance. Another problems that is often seen with poorly dispersed charge agent is that in conventional melt pulverized toners, more charge agent is present on the surface of the toner. This is not only undesirable from the charging and charge uniformity point, but charge on such resulting toners is also more sensitive to relative humidity and other environmental factors.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,593,049 discloses a toner having a resin and a charge additive that is a complex of a hard acid and a hard base. This additive is used in conjunction with a charge control agent. The present invention provides a toner that contains the charge control agent as part of the toner binder, thus eliminating a component in the toner composition. When charge agent is incorporated in the backbone of the toner resin, the problems associated with charge agent incompatibility such as charge agent dispersion and the presence of charge control agent on the surface of the toner are avoided. By having the charge agent incorporated in the polymer resin, a uniform charging behavior can be expected in all resulting toner particles.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide new dry negative polarity electrographic toners and developers containing charge control agents that perform the charge-controlling function well, while avoiding or minimizing all of the drawbacks noted above. The present invention does this.